Late-Fifteenth-Century Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the Emergence of a Muscovite Dynastic Consciousness

Abstract

This article examines the role played by the disputes for ecclesiastical jurisdiction between the late-fifteenth-century Metropolitan Sees of Kiev and of Moscow in defining the Muscovite rhetoric of princely power. Based on previous temporary ecclesiastical separations and on the Moscow-based Metropolitans' letters, it suggests that a possible acceptance of Grigorii of Kiev's jurisdiction in Novgorod was perceived as a possible threat in Moscow. Thus, when describing the 1471 attack, the official Muscovite chronicles transformed the Novogorodian struggle for autonomy into 'apostasy’. The result was a coherent narrative expressing an emergent dynastic consciousness, based on descent from Riurik, primogeniture and local symbols of Orthodoxy.